Gypsy moths are now the most destructive defoliant of hardwood trees in the Northeastern United States. As reported in the New York Times on Oct. 19, 1980, gypsy moths defoliated a record 5.1 million acres from Maine to Maryland in 1980, causing fifteen times more destruction than in the previous year. Projections for 1981 are that the defoliation resulting from these insects will be worse.
Present methods for dealing with the gypsy moth problem are not effective to combat the epidemic. For example, aerial spraying of toxic insecticides will indiscriminately kill beneficial insects as well as the destructive gypsy moths. Furthermore, experts themselves are not even sure if aerial spraying would be effective against gypsy moths, as the aforementioned New York Times article has noted.
Known apparatus currently on the market for trapping gypsy moths as shown in FIGS. 1 and 1A are produced by both the USDA and also by Herculite Products, Inc. of New York. These traps are similarly formed from an opaque, milk-carton-shaped housing having window openings of slots defined in the vertical sidewalls of the housing, thus the flying insect entry path into the opaque, milk-carton housing is generally in the horizontal direction. As will be discussed and illustrated below, the "milk-carton" type traps have several distinct disadvantages when used as a gypsy moth trap.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved gypsy moth trap adapted to utilize the phototropic behavior of the gypsy moth both to induce it into an enclosure or trap containing a volatile insecticide and to keep the gypsy moth within the trap away from the openings for a sufficient time for the insecticide to take effect and kill the insect.